UNFINISHED business could well describe Keith Cronin's outing in this weekend's Rally of the Lakes in what is the third round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
Last year he entered Saturday's penultimate stage of the Killarney event with a commanding lead of 33.3 seconds but a puncture dropped his Ford Fiesta Rally2 to sixth before he eventually finished fourth overall.
Just two weeks ago Cronin began the penultimate stage of the Circuit of Ireland with a lead of 36.6 seconds but brake problems and two punctures cost him the lead once more; he went on to finish eighth overall. On both occasions Derry's Callum Devine and his Killarney co-driver Noel O'Sullivan were perfectly placed to take advantage and went on to claim important wins.
Devine/O'Sullivan (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) are the top seeds this weekend in a capacity entry as they chase down a fourth consecutive victory in Killarney with Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin (Citroen C3 Rally2) occupying the number two berth.
Cronin doesn't need reminding of the vagaries of rallying.
‘We have seen how fickle rallying can be, especially over the past couple of years,’ Cronin said.
‘We had a good lead built up on the Lakes 12 months ago when we got the puncture on Saturday afternoon – it cost us well over two minutes. Any chance of winning the rally was gone and I really felt like parking it up, but Mikie pushed me on to keep going. We had some fastest times on the Sunday and wound up fourth.'
Cronin then failed to finish the Donegal International Rally (crashing out whilst leading) but went on to win the Ulster Rally before clinching a second Irish Tarmac Championship title on the Cork '20' International Rally.
Reflecting on his current ITRC campaign, Cronin continued, ‘This year we've seen both sides again. We got the win in West Cork when Jon Armstrong had his engine problem after the final stage. Then on the Circuit of Ireland a couple of weeks ago we had the brake issues when we were leading with a couple of stages to go and ended up eighth at the finish. You have to put in the times, but you need a bit of luck as well to get it over the line.'
Devine missed the opening round (Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally) but has a maximum score from the Circuit. Cronin is aware of the threat.
‘Callum and Noel always go well in Killarney, they've won the last three. They've also won in Donegal for the past two years. If they were to repeat those results again this season it would be very difficult to hold them back from winning the championship. Matt (Edwards) and David (Moynihan) have two non-finishes, so they've nothing to lose by going all-out from now on,’ Cronin said.
On other potential winners the West Cork driver remarked, ‘Meirion Evans/ Ger Conway (Toyota GR Yaris rally2) will be pushing us also, we've seen what the Toyota can do on the British Championship rounds. We'll have to give it our best to stay in the mix.’
There's no doubt that Devine will be a major threat to Cronin as the Ballylickey ace tries to bridge a 13-year gap since a Cork driver (Darragh O'Riordan) won the rally. He will also be aiming to emulate his uncle Denis, who won the event in 2010.
Welsh ace Matt Edwards knows it's an event where he requires a top-three finish to stay in the hunt for the championship. Evans, who contested the series a few years ago, is unlikely to register at this point and without the shackles of a championship bid he can concentrate on event victory. Others in the top ten are Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Citroen C3 Rally2), Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia), Donegal's David Kelly (Volkswagen Polo GTi R5) and Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), Tyrone's Cathan McCourt (Hyundai i20N Rally2) and Donegal's Michael Boyle (Volkswagen Polo GTi R5).
Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) didn't have the best of luck on the recent Circuit of Ireland and will be aiming for a significant result in Killarney.
Other local interest includes Kilnamartyra's JJ Cremin, who calls the notes for Limerick's Keith Lyons (Ford Fiesta Rally2); Kilcrohane's Jer O'Donovan and Rosscarbery's Alistair Wyllie (Ford Fiesta R5); Clonakilty's Eamonn and Lisa McCarthy (Honda Civic); Rathbarry's Niall O'Sullivan co-drives for Sean O'Carroll (Ford Escort).
Also competing will be Crookstown's Philip Cross (Ford Escort), who will be co-driven by Rathbarry's Joseph O'Sullivan; Dunmanway's Gerard O'Connell/John Murray (Ford Escort); Ring's Mark O'Donovan (Ford Escort ) and Inchinattin native Ian Stanley; Bantry's Noel Hurley/John O'Shea (Mitsubishi Lancer E4); Clonakilty's Peter Keohane (Peugeot 106 GTi), Skibbereen's Patrick Calnan (Honda Civic) and Kilbrittain's Donal Dineen (Honda Civic).
In the Historic category, Newcestown native Adrian Deasy partners Killarney driver Alan Ring (BMW M3) as the top seeds while Ballincollig's Brian Duggan co-drives with Killarney's Fergus O'Meara (BMW M3). Ardfield's Anthony O'Sullivan calls the notes for Welsh ace Meirion Evans (Ford Escort RS1800) and Clondrohid's Eoghan McCarthy partners overseas driver Alan Watkins (Ford Escort RS2000).
The ceremonial start in Killarney town centre is at 7pm on Friday evening. The event itself features 15 stages over two days. On Saturday, it's a triple run over a loop of three stages – Headford, Lisbabe and Red Bog – with SS1 beginning at 8.13am. Sunday's three stage locations (repeated twice) are at Moll's Gap, Beallaghbeama and Shanera. The service park is at the Liebherr complex in Fossa. The event finishes at the Gleneagle Hotel, at 5.15pm.
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In motor racing, Robert Cronin finished eighth and fifth in last weekend's two races in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT series with Elite Motorsport. He remains equal second in the series (on 128 points) with Nick White with Archie Clark again taking two race wins to lead the championship. Meanwhile, Colin Cronin's three race results in the Junior Ginetta series were tenth, fifth and a non-finish, he is sixth in the series. The next rounds of the series are in Oulton Park on May 25th/26th.
